User talk:Cynicalgirl
Welcome Hi, welcome to Vintage Sewing Patterns! Thanks for your edit to the Butterick 5591 page. Please leave a message on my talk page if I can help with anything! -- Petite Main (Talk) 13:27, February 2, 2011 Hi, If you are looking for the McCall's Sample Baby Doll's Outfit 1958 - I just deleted it as a duplicate. The existing file is McCall's Sample Baby Doll's Outfit, without the date (not dates in titles, please). Best regards, --tarna 01:31, March 21, 2011 (UTC) Re: Sample Baby Doll's Outfit Hello Mary, Thanks for the explanation. If the pattern is basically the same but just has different, or reversed graphics, we should add it to the existing listing. If you are having trouble uploading the image, try this way: http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Upload Click the Browse button to get started. When it is up, let me know, and I will try to insert it. That new format is a bit wonky and does not allow for additional image uploads, but we can add it manually. Best regards, --tarna 02:49, March 21, 2011 (UTC) Hello Tarna, Thanks for the help. I added the 1958 photo as a thumbnail with no change to the description but a caption because, I think you are right, the only change was the cover imagery. This is a wonderful site and I hope to contribute more patterns to it. Thanks. Mary Categories Hi, A few notes on categories: - They are NOT search tags. Duplication, alternate spellings, etc. are not really desirable. Not every wording, or part of a description should end up as a category. - Every category creates a page that lists the patterns that fit it. We have been working on trying to clean these up, but there are are a lot remaining that need work, and may be confusing to new users. - Pattern numbers should NOT be added as a category. They are already in a title, can be searched, will show up in the All Pages list, on the manufacturers' category page, etc. Please don't be alarmed when I go in and edit/delete. Best regards, --tarna 18:33, March 27, 2011 (UTC) Hi Tarna, Not alarmed. Thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize the difference between tags and categories. It actually makes it easier to not have to think of tags. I will remember these guidelines. Thanks. I have inherited over 3000 patterns and am desperately trying to post them and then, hopefully have a life once again...;) Mary Re: McCall 1368 Hello Mary, Glad you could find an ad to solve the mystery. I think the Crafts type patterns with embroidery, beads, sequins, etc. did not change their envelope style when the clothing type patterns did, and also ran on a different numbering sequence, making them harder to place if the copyright is not listed or legible on the pattern. I based the original estimate on the list by cemetarian (which takes numbers found in publications of that time, and can be off if there was no publication readily available to her or other contributors to the list, and patterns were often listed for quite a few years after their issue), and on the style of the illustration, so I missed by a bit... Thanks for caring and for researching, and of course for contributing all those patterns. Best wishes, --tarna 16:32, April 8, 2011 (UTC) Re: replacing pictures Hello Mary, I just answered that for another new member, and will give you that answer and hope it helps: " On the subject of picture replacement, it can get tricky and rather subjective. "Better" means different things to different people. Generally, clarity and resolution of the image are more important than some writing or stamps on old envelopes. Larger, more clear pictures are probably better than tiny (but clear) or generally fuzzy ones... If you find an obviously inferior picture, you can just replace it. The action is reversible, as most changes on the wiki are. " There are two ways to do it. - Click on the picture in the listing. A separate window should pop up, and lead you to the actual picture page. There is a link there that lets you upload a new version. - Upload a picture separately (with a slightly different name), then substitute that in the pattern listing (this will not work with the new entry template, which has a lot of shortcomings). Hope this helps. Best regards, --tarna 22:16, April 16, 2011 (UTC) Re: Deleting a record Hi, Only admins can actually delete records. If it is one of the "normal" older style pages, anyone can mark it for deletion, but with that new template, that does not seem to work anymore either... I will take care of deleting the duplicate, thanks for letting me know. Best wishes, --tarna 06:22, April 19, 2011 (UTC) Re: Simplicity 1552 B Hi Mary, I deleted the duplicate (needs admin access to do it). Sleep? What sleep? Heaven knows I commit many a typo late a night to be cleaned up the next day... Cheers, -- 03:11, May 3, 2011 (UTC) Template and Mail Order Patterns Hi Mary, Sorry for the late replies. Stanley Cup Playoffs are cutting into my wiki time... 1) Yes, apparently the template link was switched - the template you were using is buggy and they are attempting to fix it (see previous post by Christina on my user page). I usually don't notice, since the "new" template you are now using is the one I prefer anyway. And editing in Source mode is the right way to go. I (or another admin) will fix the formatting issues. The good news is that we can play with the image size, and the History works, etc. If you want to add text not in Source mode, you can just hit returns (2) behind the pattern picture. The page is not split into different sections, like the template you are used to. 2) Yes, Mail Order patterns were often issued by different companies/distributors under different pattern numbers. It is fine to list them under both, particularly when the numbers are different - when we find them, we link them for cross reference. Best wishes, --tarna 06:34, May 5, 2011 (UTC) Butterick 3367 and Template Hi again, I edited Butterick 3367. Take a look at it in Source mode to see how it should look. When adding a picture, it is best to be in Source mode, and make sure to have the cursor placed at the very top of the page, before any default text there may be. Get rid of the NOTOC and placeholder text for the picture, but keep the text in the triangular brackets (again, look at the source of the pattern I just edited). Pictures show up funny and mess up the format when in "frame" mode. I edit that to give it a pixel width - 480px for most patterns. Hope this helps. --tarna 19:24, May 5, 2011 (UTC) Hi, I think I fixed it. Sometimes what happens is that one unintentionally selects everything (slip of the mouse, so to say) before hitting save. The thing to do is to go into History (you can add this to your Tools), and select Undo right after making the unintentional change. Everyone can undo their own edits in one-step increments. It gets more difficult after several edits have been made. Hope this helps. Best regards, --tarna 15:55, July 6, 2011 (UTC) Re: Simplicity 8211 Hi, I played with it, and the only way to do it in this format was to add one of the pictures to the description as a link. The alternatives were to add the magazine picture to the gallery (would have been acceptable, since it is a picture of the pattern made up), or delete this record, and re-create in the old format, which allows for source editing and better control overall, but loses the history of this page. Best regards, -- 16:08, July 7, 2011 (UTC) hey cookie! it's me Mrs P - how ya doin' these days??? KSDebKSDeb 12:13, August 12, 2011 (UTC) hey cookie - WOW - so much to do around the place but it sounds like you have accomplished a lot. i know such large projects need to be regarding as accomplishing phases - i hope you and yours are not depressed by "everything". a real art commission - that is so awesome! i have not painted in two years - i have plenty of work finished and framed and except for a handful of smaller pieces, i have not sold anything to make me need to replace my pile in the studio. also, have some issues with hubby willing to finance "things" like applying to juried shows & mailing art work to locations, money for sending out portfolios, etc.. so, i am hoping selling vintage will finance some projects and hope to get back to painting in a few years.... meanwhile, after three years of Etsy i will be pulling out of all my shops by the end of the year. sales are just getting worse - there are several "things" that irk me no end with the company. okay - i am moving all the vintage clothing, accessories, books & housewares to Ruby Plaza. the patterns, cloth and other sewing supplies are going to Main Street Mall Online. i figure on saving about $100/month. i LOVE how my shop looks on Ruby Plaza www.rubyplaza.com/shop/thejollymonger and the sewing shop functions as a stand alone web site even tho' it is partenered with MAMO www.SewMrsP.com the problem with moving and setting up a new shop is the time laspe before you make sales. i have made 4 sales on ruby plaza, the SewMrsP.com is only two weeks old so it will be a bit before it shows up in the google searches. ha - a problem i am having is i am afraid of having "dead links" on this wiki as i am slowly getting some items transferred from Etsy to SewMrsP.com & changing the links but it does take a while! you know, this art commission came at the right time for you - i think you might need a "distraction" and a different place to focus some of that energy - don't work TOO hard! art blog address hi hon - cant remember how many site addresses i have sent you (or how many times LOL) but don't think i have sent the art blog one - there is a link to take you to an online album of some of my work - would you send me your art site address again? and are you on FB? www.deborahpipes.blogspot.com KSDeb 21:49, August 14, 2011 (UTC) hey cookie - i too, was having problems dealing with the lack of time to do social networking and then someone turned me onto Tweetdeck. it's a download (free) & it will post to both FB & Twitter accts. I have actually been able to do some exploring to find a few folks to follow (travel, food & the flea markets)....hope to work on FB at some time.... Tiger Lily is my son Collin, who has severe cerebral palsy. we were visiting my brother & i had posed collin in front of his magificent tiger lilies.... the other one, 1951, is my husband and his sister.... don't work too hard! debKSDeb 22:40, August 15, 2011 (UTC) Recent changes... Hi, Well, there have been a bunch of changes lately, it seems, but I am not clued in (just a regular user with a few admin buttons). Just limping along myself. As for your issues - I don't see them. The drop-down was iffy earlier today, but seems to be working now. And when I go to your user page, it shows that you have made 2,457 edits, and clicking on the Contributions tab seems to show all of them. Which browser are you using? And are you in the old Monaco version (check your preferences)? Not sure what else the issue might be. Best regards, --tarna 23:03, March 22, 2012 (UTC) Pauline vs. Patterns by Pauline and Mail Order Hi, No, I changed that one (while giving it the "Patterns by Pauline" category), because there is a non-mail-order company named Pauline, which is quite different. Basically to avoid confusion. There are other Patterns by Pauline listings in the Mail Order ranks. Does this help? Best regards, --tarna 22:27, April 11, 2012 (UTC) Patterns by Pauline Hello again, Well, there is a category page for Patterns by Pauline - I just made sure it linked to Pattern Companies and Mail Order: http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Patterns_by_Pauline Very few patterns to see, but I suspect that there are more. Sometimes, it is not clear (envelope missing, whoever enters it does not bother to identify, etc.), so it is easier to lump them under Mail Order - that way they are more "findable". If you find you have a better idea, I (and likely Petite Main) are more than open to listen/discuss. Best regards, --tarna 22:50, April 11, 2012 (UTC) Missing pieces Hi Mary, your idea is nice but the problem is how to change the template. We have now more than 50,000 patterns listed and it would be a huge work to adapt them (I don't even know if it's possible because I'm not in charge of this part). Did you ask Tarna what she thinks about it? She always is a good counsellor. All the best, Petite Main 07:05, May 15, 2012 (UTC) Missing Pieces Facilitation Hello Mary, This has been brought up before (it's been a while - not sure who)... My thoughts at the time were that one could just add the request for missing bits in the Wishlist section - after all, it is much like looking for the whole pattern - and some people have in fact put such requests in that area - I don't know whether any of them have been successful. I suspect you had a grander scheme in mind? Any specifics on how it would ideally look, and how we would go about promoting the idea with current and potentially new users? You are right - if we add another charter, we are going to need more help keeping things straight. It gets to be time-consuming enough to keep up with categorizing the new entries, and such (all-the-while the category clean-up is going poorly). Best regards, --tarna 00:37, May 17, 2012 (UTC) Computer problems... Hi, Just wanted to update you on why I apparently fell of the face of the earth after your last message... My main computer spectacularly decided to crash (HD won't come back due to a software corruption issue, it seems) that night - was that only last night? - and I have been going bonkers ever since. Writing from my older laptop, now. Why don't we think on it for a bit, and then decide what to do. Best regards, --tarna 08:10, May 18, 2012 (UTC) Re: Missing Pieces Feature Hi, Yes, I actually had guilty pang earlier today, while looking at the bot changes made by wikia to the "funky" Layout Builder divided template (they changed it to the more common one; now we have to re-format when we come across them). I have given this some thoughts, although I don't have a real answer yet: A) Possible Approach 1: Change the template of the Pattern Pages to include a section on Missing Bits: Con: * If we were to change the template (will require wiki staff help, as the templates do not appear to accessible to admins - at least that I can find, and I have looked...). * Even if the template were changed, it would only propagate for new pattern additions, old ones would have to be manually edited one-by-one (or request a bot - again wikia staff is necessary, and we need to clearly define what we want). Pro: • We could just add it for every pattern as we go, and it would directly relate to a specific pattern number. B) Possible Approach 2: Create a Forum or List to handle this Con: • Could get messy. Would have to enforce additions in alpha-numerical order. • Need to give clear instructions on how to enter and communicate. Pro: • Could be modeled after the Favorite Fabric Stores page (which is alphabetized). • You could be the one watch it and be in charge of keeping it neat. • Could promote this in one easy link from the Main Page. What do you think? Approach 2 sounds more manageable to me right now, but I may have tunnel vision while trying to avoid the template mess... Best regards, --tarna 23:51, June 1, 2012 (UTC) How to get started Hi Mary, Well, why not, if you feel that way. After all, there are only 52,000+ existing entries to date... ;) My main concern was that someone needs to monitor it all - and there is no way to distinguish the edits if a user does not just edit a Section vs. a Page. * Step 1: Get someone from wikia staff to alter the CreatePage template to include a section on Request or Offer for missing pieces. Exact wording of the header needs to be specified (including any wording you might want under that). Go to Community tab at the top of a page or Main Page and select Help and Contact Wikia. Unfortunately, there has not been any direct involvement in the wiki from a particular person for a while, but JeskaD used to be our girl. • Step 2: Decide on how to promote this on the Main Page, and point people in the right direction. As for altering each page, it is simply a matter of manually typing it in (no programming on our end), or to - again - request wikia staff to have this changed via Bot (they write a script to make a change to every page to include the new header and information, and have a bot execute it over a period of time). All of the above is as far as I know. You may feel like we have been stalling you on this, but the truth is that it is all a lot of work, and a lack of in-depth skills on our end (kind of slid into this role over time, and because we were the most active editors). We have not gotten very technical here (mostly due to lack of time) or delved into all the possibilities, but there are links and information on wikia in general, and you may want to look into it before plunging ahead. Best regards, --tarna 18:20, June 2, 2012 (UTC) Re: How to get started Hi, Sounds like a plan. If I get a chance to dig up more information, I will. Best regards, --tarna 15:28, June 4, 2012 (UTC) Sick computers, pictures, and missing bits Hi, First- let me state that I have been going out of my mind. My computer finally completely crashed - functional after repeated restores only at intervals at a mind-numbing crawl with Finder hangs every 5 minutes. Very sick indeed. Solution: new computer (psyched!) - lightning fast speed allows me to catch up, but not quite there yet... 1) I just fixed the picture issue - moved it next to the original. No header tags around pictures, please. Also, only completed projects or pictures of the made-up garments (e.g. from catalogs) should go into the gallery. 2) About the Missing Bits: * I was not sure about the wording of the headers - we need to keep it simple, and use terms that international users can understand as well, so I think that needs a bit more thought. * Many people (and I am not talking about the regular contributors) can barely seem to sign their user name, leave alone properly contact people on their talk pages, so why not list the available pieces or at least a brief description of what they have to offer or are looking for right on the page? * This is going to be a lot of work keeping up with peoples' messy edits and mistakes - are you up to it? You would have to monitor all changes except for those clearly marked Sources/Vendors or Links to Reviews/blog posts (as people don't always click on the appropriate section to edit). That said, most changes are those mentioned above, or new additions. I don't know if you ever look at this page: vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Special:RecentChanges All that said (and sounding very reluctant, I realize), I would love to see an easy way to do this, as my garage is filling up with boxes of incomplete patterns I was going to send to Patterns Rescue. I am still hoping for a Eureka moment, and keep circling back to the single page idea: - If it was all on one, alpha-numerical page, it would be easier to monitor. The pattern names could be linked to the actual pattern page via internal link by you or another admin (or the more crafty users) - no need for pictures on that page. Drawback - users would have to be precise about which version they are talking about. - I could come up with a test page for this proposal (last ditch effort - I know you prefer the other way) when I get it more together. This is longer than intended, but there, I have been thinking about it... Best regards, --tarna 19:34, June 26, 2012 (UTC) Will work on it I will work on a straw man for a page proposal, but it may take a little bit... Yes, Pattern Rescue looks like a lost resource. I remember the three telling about health problems in the family, and Mary was 90+ at last check. I don't think we can duplicate the effort and dedication here, but let's give the scaled-down approach a whirl. Best regards, --tarna 01:42, June 27, 2012 (UTC) testing Hi, Very rudimentary first stab at the rather simplistic test page here: Test - Pattern Bits Lots of rambling... wording needs to be adjusted, etc., but take a look at the format below (just 2 patterns so far, but they are real). Cheers, --tarna 01:04, July 3, 2012 (UTC) Re: Missing bits Hi, Sorry - I was just looking for my answer to your previous inquiry, and it was not there... Could have sworn I answered... Well, things have been going a bit awry for me lately, including a sudden vision problem that is now on the way to healing (whew!). Here we try again, with some updates: 1) New news: one of the other pattern vendors contacted Pattern Rescue, and they are slated to resume sometime in September. No details yet, and yes - I know they have promised things before and were unable to keep those promises. We should still try to flesh this out, in case things fall through again. 2) As to the wording on that Missing Bits test page not being up to snuff - I absolutely agree - but that is where you come in with a proposal, right? 3) The links are just internal links - you highlight the text to be linked, then click the third button above the edit box , which looks like an underlined capital A and lower case b (in Source mode - looks like chain link in other mode) - and voilà. Alternately, you can just type a single square bracket around the words. Make sure that that title exists exactly as typed, or it will not work - you play with that on the test page to get comfortable. Whether or not the poster would do this linking depends on their skill level. Yes, the poster should include a date estimate of description, if they cannot link or identify the pattern (and yes, this could get messy). 4) No automatic sorting for new entries, sorry. That is a manual job (unless there is a nifty tool or code I am unaware of). Best regards, --tarna 21:54, July 22, 2012 (UTC) I agree - Pattern Rescue would be the best solution if it is indeed resurrected. Let me know if you want to revisit the subject here. Best regards, --tarna (talk) 00:26, July 23, 2012 (UTC) Hi Cynicalgirl, I'm from Wikia and wanted to know if you got my email from Aug 7? If so, no hurry on responding as I know you're busy. If not, let me know if there is another way/email I can reach you at. Thanks! Lindachou (talk) 00:06, August 15, 2012 (UTC) Thanks for the catch Hi, Nice catch. I merged them and deleted the duplicate. Best regards, --tarna (talk) 16:34, August 20, 2012 (UTC) changes lost? Hi, Sorry for the late response. Rare night of an actual life (concert)... I don't know - a little behind - but it sounds like you lost the connection. Sometimes, that means that the changes saved, sometimes it means they did not (depending on when the connection was interrupted). The only way to find out is to go back to the page and check... (History pull-down under the Edit tab is very helpful). Best regards, --tarna (talk) 06:41, August 25, 2012 (UTC) Hi, Just wanted to remind you to be certain before removing another seller's links. Links to reproductions of patterns are permissible, and need to be left if still valid. You removed one recently, and replaced it with your link.... Best regards, --tarna (talk) 20:15, December 22, 2013 (UTC) Hello, Links to reproduction patterns are permissible, and most of the ones listed are for patterns that have run out of copyright protection. There was one person listing copied patterns that definitely fall within a still copyrighted time period. I did tell that user that they cannot post those pictures here, and she seemed to understand, but may still be posting links to patterns without identifying them as reproductions in the link. No matter what - you may want to contact that user (via their talk page), or at the very least put a note in the Edit Summary about why you removed a technically valid link when you do so. Best regards, --tarna (talk) 18:21, December 23, 2013 (UTC)